Lawyer sues MTN over line disconnection for allegedly compromising his mobile line

​A lawyer, Mr. Bennett Igbani, has sued MTN Nigeria Communications Limited at the Federal High Court in Lagos for N200milion for allegedly compromising his mobile line.

The plaintiff, based in the United Kingdom,said he had been using his SIM card with the number 08067251116 for over eight years,adding that he duly registered it.

Igbani, a PhD student, said he roamed his line while abroad, but it became inoperative,adding that he noticed that his e-mail account had been hacked into by a third party using his MTN number.

The lawyer said his bank also informed him that a lady named Nora who claimed to be his younger sister called with the line asking to withdraw N5million from Igbani’s account because he needed urgent medical attention overseas.

The plaintiff said he had no sister named Nora, nor was he sick, adding that the line was linked to all his six bank accounts.

Igbani said he petitioned the police following the attempted fraud on his account, and contacted MTN.

The plaintiff said MTN informed him that the line had been reclaimed by another user, but did not disclose his particulars.

Filing the suit through his lawyer, Mr. Festus Keyamo, Igbani said he was kept incommunicado for over five months, lost business opportunities, suffered psychological stress, financial loss, and infringement on his privacy.

Among others, he is praying for an order mandating MTN to return his number to him and restrain the telecoms company from further tampering with his line.